Nah, the woods are pretty boring today: plants, bugs, birds, there's a squirrel over there throwing earth at something that glints in the sun...

Great.

Well, it's shiny. Could be valuable even if it's not cool.

He claps his hands loudly. Squirrels don't like loud noises, right? 

This squirrel is apparently bolder than most. It stares at Stiles for a second, scratches its nose, then back to burying the shiny thing in dirt.

He kicks the squirrel. 

What's the thing?

The squirrel dodges the kick and runs away. What a mean human.

The thing... looks like the corner of a book. It's too deeply buried for anything more detailed than that to be made out.

Can he just bend down and yank it really hard? 

He will probably fall on his butt if he tries but he will successfully dislodge the book from the dirt!

Well. Nobody has to know. He'll tell Scott he had to climb a tree.

Does it look old or interesting? 

It looks like this, plus or minus lots of dirt.

Yeah, kind of interesting. Who leaves a book in the woods?

Scott will definitely want to see this.

Stiles hides the book inside his jacket and jogs to his bike.

And later, Scott answers the knock at his window.

"Careful, my mom will hear you if you knock over my lamp again."

"Yeah, yeah." 

He tosses the book in, and scrambles through the window.

He only hurts himself when he lands on the floor.

"You got me a book?"

He runs his fingers along the spine.

As he handles the book it—clicks open. Of its own accord.

"Stiles, the book has some kind of lock. I think I broke it. It must be really old." 

He opens it.

Stiles peers over his shoulder. 

Inside the book a rectangular hole is cut into the pages, and in it—

—a deck of cards.

"Wow. Usually when books lie to you they wait until you're past the cover page. We probably can't even sell this."

Scott ignores him and starts flipping through the deck. 

There are several cards! Fifty-two of them, to be precise, with drawings and strange names, in a somewhat tarot-y fashion.

"This is kind of weird. Where'd you get it?"

"It was stuck up a tree in the middle of the woods. There were some birds nesting but I was pretty careful not to bother them."

"Who leaves a bunch of cards in a hollowed-out book in the middle of the woods?"

"Look kind of like Tarot cards. Maybe someone was trying to cast a spell or something and we interrupted it."

"Maybe. I think it's probably something valuable and we should turn it in."

He holds the deck in his hands, turning it over to examine the design.

"What are Tarot cards like?"

"I don't think you want me to bore you with the history of playing cards. These look pretty much like a bloated, pointlessly huge Major Arcana. Kind of silly names, too."

"Why, what kind of names do those have?"

"The Chariot, The Tower, The Sun, The Moon...what kind of name is 'The Sweet'?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

He thumbs through the deck, and pulls out a card, showing it to Stiles.

"'The Big' sounds like someone ran out of ideas."

It may not have liked the way Scott's talking about it, because it starts glowing, and then his asthma inhaler starts glowing, and then it's the size of a computer monitor.

"You know, I should go to the woods more often." 

"Maybe we should talk about this! I'm pretty sure that isn't normal. Since when do cards do that?"

"Try saying it again, the name."

"The, uh, 'The Big'?"

The inhaler becomes small again.

"Try another one."

Okay, nothing too weird. 

Here we go.

"The Song, please..."

The card glows, and disappears, and in Scott's room is a young girl in a long dress. She bows slightly then starts singing a beautiful, wordless melody.

"Is your door locked?"

"Even if my mom is worried about the girl in my room, I'm definitely more worried she came from a card!"

He walks closer to the girl. 

"Hello? Can you understand me? I'm Scott."

She stops her singing and dips her head in acknowledgement. "Hello," she sings as if she was going to start singing Lionel Richie's 'Hello' song.

"So she can sing. How descriptive."

"Why did you sing for us?"

She sings a piece of Kirk Whalum's "It's what I do." Specifically the part where it goes "It's what I do."

"...Do you want to?"

She shrugs, and sings the first four words of Regina Spektor's "I want to sing."

"Scott, this is way too cool to have a mental breakdown over. Here, try this one."

He grabs a card at random from the deck.

It's one called 'The Windy.'

"I guess this one makes wind? That should be safe...The Windy, please make some wind."

It glows, then makes some wind!

...quite a lot of wind, in fact! Much more than he'd been expecting, probably, given the way all cards that are not itself and the Song start being scattered. Magically scattered, that is, they fly in all directions and go straight through the walls and ceiling as if they were completely insubstantial.

"Eugh!"

Stiles falls backwards, knocking over the table lamp. 

He looks at the girl.

"Song? Are you okay?"

"Yes," she sings, although the word is too short for the song to be recognized.

The cards all have scattered by now, and the Windy is no longer glowing.

"Scott, is everything okay up there?"

"I'm fine! I'll get the lamp cleaned up tomorrow."

And indeed, the glass remains of the lamp have been somewhat blown about. 

"So we're down fifty magic cards. Any ideas?"

"No. I'm going to put this one back in the book and see if I can get Song to talk to me more."

He opens the book again, to place The Windy card back inside. 

The Windy will endure this indignity.

"Song, can you be a card again, if that's okay?"

She nods, and becomes a card again, floating toward his hand.

He takes it, smiling. 

"Okay, that is kind of cool."

He goes to put this one in the book, too.

It too will submit to this indignity.

Scott closes the book, and slides it under his bed.

"Stiles, I think I'm going to have to sleep on this. If it seems like it actually happened tomorrow, we can figure out what we have to do."

"...Have to do?"

"If someone picks up The Firey I don't think that will end well. Some of those cards could be dangerous."

The book starts glowing.

"So you want to, what, look around town for the cards? We can't find them all, Scott, and we aren't the ones who left a magic deck of cards in the middle of the woods!"

"If they activate they won't be hard to find."

"Damnit, Scott! I am not going to wander aimlessly until we find them. Let them start forest fires, for all I care. I've never met Smokey the Bear and I don't think-"

His eyes fall on the book. 

"Great. More magic we can't control."

Scott turns around, stepping away from his bed. He stands in front of Stiles, as though to shield him from the glowing book.

And from the glowing book, slowly, insubstantially, emerges...

...a plush winged bear.

"Can I summon bears by talking about them? That's a really specific magical power."

"Hello? Book person? I'm Scott."

The bear opens his eyes and—

—says "Hellooooo! My, that was such a good nap!" Its voice is high and childish, and it looks cheerful and happy.

"Were you one of the cards that was hiding, somehow?"

"No, I am Cerberus," pronounced 'Kerberos,' "the guardian beast of the seal of the Clow Cards." As he explains this, the Clow Book stands up behind him of its own accord.

"Some guardian you are. They all blew away."

"We still have The Song and The Windy."

"Blew... away...?" He turns around slowly to look at the hole inside the book, where only the two mentioned cards can be seen. "What?! Where are they?!?! How did this happen?!?!?!"

"First I called on The Big, then The Song, and then I called on The Windy. The Windy blew everything else away, except for The Song."

"What do you mean, blew everything else away?" He looks around, apparently looking for blown away cards. "Where are they?"

"Who knows. Anywhere in the world."

"Is there any way to use The Song and The Windy to find them?"

Cerberus... calms down, a bit, seeing Scott's taking this seriously. "Yes and no. Windy's one of the most powerful cards, and can be used to defeat and entrap many others."

"Why is this his job? If you're a guardian you should have been better at it!"

"...I kinda fell asleep."

"It's okay, we'll get them back. Cerberus, you said Windy can help catch the other cards, but when I said its name it just sent them all away. How do I stop that from happening again? Can I talk to Windy, like I did with Song?"

"Scott, it's pronounced 'Kerberos', not 'Kerberus'. That's kind of a mouthful, though. How do you like Kirby?"

"It's Cerberus not Kirby," he complains, then looks at Scott. "Windy doesn't speak, but you can talk to her. It's... weird that she did that in the first place. It's not like her."

"So they do have personalities. What's Song like? We met, but not for very long."

"Alright, Kirby."

The bear glares at Stiles, which expression is somewhere between 'hilarious' and 'adorable,' and pointedly looks at Scott again. "She's sweet and nice and quiet and likes music."

"Is that it? Kind of boring, what's Windy like?"

"Cerberus, why did Song sing when I called her name?"

Cerberus is studiously ignoring Stiles.

"Because that's what she does."

"Yeah, that's what she told me. Are the cards people?"

Stiles reaches past Scott to grab the book.

The book drops flat on its back just as Stiles is doing that, falling just out of his reach.

"What do you mean?"

"Do they want things, have opinions and personalities, do they feel pain, do they know what's happening to them?"

"Scott, calm down. Everything's going to be fine. We'll find them, and we'll make sure they can do whatever they want to do."

"They... don't want things the way humans do, they have opinions and personalities, they don't feel pain the way humans do, they know what's happening to them. And it may not be fine, the cards released will bring catastrophe to the world."

"Right, next time lead with that?"

"Okay. What do I have to do to find the others? How can I be sure that Windy won't blow them away again after I find them? How can I stop them from wreaking havoc?"

"I will need to make you a cardcaptor, and you will be entrusted with the job of finding them, capturing them, and keeping them from destroying the world."

"What do I need to do."

"Slow your roll there, buddy. 'Entrust'? Is there a contract here, can we please see the terms?"

"...terms?"

"Stiles, I'll take this one."

"What do I have to do, if I become a cardcaptor?"

"You have to capture the cards, take care of them, learn how to use them, protect them, and treat them with respect."

"Deal. How do I start?"

The book stands up again and a little point of blue light appears within its lock, and floats towards Scott until it's between Cerberus and him. It grows, and a small key appears inside it. "Key of the Seal, there is someone wishing for a contract with you," he starts intoning.

"What should I say?"

He reaches for it.

Wind! Lots of wind, pushing him back and preventing him from touching the key. "A boy! His name is Scott. Oh, Key, grant him the power. RELEASE!"

His surroundings are replaced by a black void, the only things present being himself, Cerberus, the Key, and a glowing circle much like the one on the back of the Clow Cards where the "ground" should be. Stiles is nowhere to be seen.

He reaches for the Key.

As he does, the key grows and changes shape, turning into a staff. The closer he is to it, the stronger the wind pushing against him. "Now, Scott! Grab it!"

...

Stiles is going to tease him mercilessly about this.

He takes the staff.

The staff finishes growing and Cerberus declares: "That's it! The birth of a cardcaptor!"

The wind subsides and disappears, his surroundings appear again, and as far as Stiles is aware no time at all has passed but Scott is suddenly holding a very pink staff.

Stiles does not laugh.

There might be a little sporfle, but he exhibits incredible self-restraint.

Truly heroic.

"Okay, what's next? How will I find the cards before they do any damage?"

"Scott, dinner!"

"Stiles-"

"I know the drill. I interrogate the bear and if Mama Blackstock comes up, we hide in the closet. Bring me something."

Cerberus does not look thrilled about being interrogated by that boy.

"Okay, how's this. I suggest nicknames, you pick the least awful. Beary, Kirby, Kerry, Kebsy...stop me when you find one you like."

"...why do I need a nickname?"

"'Cerberus' is kind of a mouthful. It wouldn't kill you to use something shorter."

"...fine."

"So, thoughts? Kirby, Kerry, Kebsy...any suggestions?"

"None of those."

"Berus, Kerbo, Keb?"

"...Kerbo's almost good."

"Kerbo, Kerso, Kero?"

"Kero's good."

"Cool. Now that I've actually done something helpful today, uh, can you tell me more about being a guardian? Why are you a guardian, how did you get the job?"

"I was made by Clow Reed himself to guard the seal of the cards."

"Who was Clow Reed himself?"

"The greatest sorcerer of all time, maker of the Clow Book and the Clow Cards."

Don't antagonize the bear.

Don't insult card Merlin.

"Why are there so many cards?"

The bear shrugs. "I don't know."

"Do you have any guesses to why The Windy card decided to scatter the others?"

"No, it's very unlike her..."

"What is she usually like?"

"Calm and collected and serious and kind and wise..."

"Maybe she had some kind of plan? She must know scattering the cards is dangerous."

"...cards don't really think in these terms."

"Why would they. Okay, how is Scott going to find cards? Does he just wait for chaos and destruction?"

"They don't start with the chaos and destruction right away, and now that he's the cardcaptor he'll be able to sense the cards eventually."

"Just 'the cardcaptor'? That's why he got it open and I didn't, right? Is Scott a sorcerer like Clow Reed, or are cardcaptors something different?"

"He became the cardcaptor when he accepted the contract with the key of the seal, but the only way he could've opened it would be if he had magical power and were worthy. He could become a sorcerer, but the Clow Cards are much more powerful than regular sorcery."

"Can he be both?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know if I could be a sorcerer?"

Scott opens the door quietly, and slips in.

He hands Stiles a box of Chinese takeout and a slice of cake.

He closes his eyes, crosses his legs, and starts floating and glowing.

"...Should we be quiet?" 

"Nah. Let him explain first." 

Stiles throws a piece of cake at Kero.

"I'm so sorry about him."

Kero seems to not be bothered at all by the cake. Then he stops glowing and opens his eyes. "You don't have any magic potential," he tells Stiles.

"Oh. That's the answer to my question. Neat."

"We settled on 'Kero' for a nickname. Kero says you can become a sorcerer like Clow Reed was, but right now you're just the cardcaptor. He also says you can learn to sense cards."

"Kero, how can I learn to sense the Clow cards?"

"At first by meditating."

"How do I meditate? Just focus, try to stay calm and quiet?"

"Yes. If you sit cross-legged with your staff on your lap and your cards around you it should help. I should also teach you the words to activate the staff, but to turn it back into a key you just have to want it."

Scott picks up the staff.

He...wants it to be a key again.

It shrinks back into key form.

"Probably good, the staff was a little showy."

"Kero- and is Kero alright, you haven't complained but I can stick to Cerberus? Can you teach me to activate the staff?"

"Kero's fine," he sighs. "To activate it you have to say: 'The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Scott, command you under our contract. Release!'"

"The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Scott...command you...under our contract. Release!"

Staff again!

Scott tries not to strike a heroic pose with his pink staff.

He fails to resist the urge. 

"Okay, it's kind of growing on me."

Kero giggles a bit.

"Where do you want to stay, Kero?"

"Stay?"

"What kind of place do you want to live in? My house is fine but you might prefer something else."

"He was living in a book, Scott. I'm sure this is fine."

"Oh. Here's fine."

"Should I start trying mediation now? I don't want any chaos."

"If you want, but the cards are probably not active right now."

"How long until they are?"

"So meditation is cool and all, but my dad probably wants me home before sunrise. See you tomorrow?" 

"Sure. You can just be here for the fun parts."

He opens the window and Stiles makes his escape.

"I think maybe I'll just go to bed, and deal with the cards we have so far tomorrow. Do you mind sleeping in the closet? You should still get enough air...if you need air."

"I do need air, but it'd be nice if I could sleep somewhere open. Like here."

"Oh. Can you try really hard not to move, in case my mom comes in?"

"Yeah." He does just that to demonstrate that he can.

"Okay. Sleep wherever is comfortable."

He gets ready for bed himself, unless something suddenly creates chaos.

Kero gets comfortable and sleeps. No chaos happens.

And Scott wakes up.

He has school today, of course. He probably can't use his responsibilities as a cardcaptor to get out of his classes. 

After he finishes getting ready, he checks on Kero.

And Kero wakes up and yaaaaaawns and says, "Good moooorning."

"Hey. I have school today. Can you take care of yourself while I'm gone?"

"Oh. Yeah. Um. Is there food?"

"Sure. Should I bring some snacks up here for you to get into while I'm out?"

"Ooh yes please! Do you have sweets?"

"We have some leftover cake. I can get something on the way home if you want."

"Oooh, cake!"

"Okay, so I'll bring you some before I head out, you can have it whenever you want. I should be back in eight hours." 

"Okay!"

Scott goes to school.

His first class today is: math!

He gamely attempts to math!

It goes fairly well, considering his lack of aptitude and interest.

Determination helps a little.

And so he survives math! And then he has government!

He survives!

He checks to make sure his inhaler is in his backpack before he heads to his next class.

He would never hear the end of it from his mom.

Government! It's government-y.

It is that.

He runs into Stiles in the halls as they head to their next class together.

"Hey! How're things at home?"

"Settling in just fine."

"Alright. Obligatory pat-down?"

Scott hands him the backpack.

"Very funny, Scott," he says after a moment of increasingly frantic searching.

"I don't think the Windy is going to get air into your lungs all the way from your house."

"What are you talking about?"

"Scott, I get it, you're a magical girl, the power of friendship will set you free and probably cure your asthma, but oh wait, maybe don't count on fairy dust and unhatched eggs, huh?"

Scott rifles through his bag, but can't find the inhaler anywhere.

"Okay, okay. Don't panic, then it'll just happen now..."

"...Can you sense anything? Maybe, if you really didn't forget it..."

Can he sense anything magical?

Nnnot at present, no.

But then, Kero did mention meditation was the way to go there.

Stiles finds him a quiet corner, and it's not hard to get a teacher to leave them alone when Scott starts wheezing.

His breathing eases, and he slips into the meditation.

It's slow, but he eventually reaches that state. His awareness starts expanding, and at first he sees nothing. Then, he starts getting a fuzzy... feeling. It's hard to pin it down at this point.

Well, he can keep going. Stiles isn't letting anyone interrupt this.

The fuzzy feeling gets a shape. Or, at least, solidity and a direction. There seems to be—something, there, somewhere, skipping this way and that, in the school.

He needs help, he needs Windy and Song to do this, he can't handle it alone-

He drops the meditation abruptly, and it feels like a sudden blow, knocking the wind out of him.

The light of the real world filters back to his consciousness when he opens his eyes. He could, right now, probably tell where whatever-it-was was, but the way it was moving while he was meditating, it will probably be somewhere else by the time he catches up with it.

"I need to get the cards. Watch to make sure it doesn't do much damage."

He hops to it.

Stiles...knows there's a card.

Is there some kind of assorted havoc to see if he wanders the halls, glaring at anyone who questions his right to be there?

He might catch some other people with missing belongings, as well as some who have found theirs in bizarre places (like two floors down or under a locker).

There's some kind of thief on the loose, from a rival school, who wants to distract everyone before the big game. 

He spreads this rumor around to the best of his ability, and waits for Scott to come back. 

He ends up going to his next class, after stopping by the nurse to mention Scott is having a medical emergency. It's kind of true. 

Scott catches Stiles in the hall afterwards.

"I have them. Guard me while I meditate?"

Sigh.

Meditate.

Before he gets the fuzzy, he notices two things:

One, the cards have existences, they're entities, drawing the (metaphorical) eye, complex beings of pure magic.

Two, it appears his backpack is now glowing to his (metaphorical) eye.

He doesn't drop the meditation this time.

He keeps going.

Eventually he finds the skipping, zipping card, which seems to still be in the building, one floor down.

Trying to follow it pulls him back out.

"Stiles, it's downstairs."

And they run downstairs.

Scott can see it!

Stiles cannot.

It's a girl in a traditional Chinese outfit, jumping this way and that. She sees Scott, smiles, and jumps through a wall into a classroom.

"The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Scott, command you under our contract. Release!'"

Staff!

(There are, however, students inside the classroom. Having class.)

They can't see the staff, right? 

Just him being weird. 

Well unless he's hiding it somewhere they can see it, just like Stiles did.

Good thing he didn't run in there without planning. Just summoned a magical item without planning. 

He stands outside, looking for somewhere convenient where no one can see him waving his magic stick around while he calls Windy.

It's an empty hallway between classrooms with lockers and windows into the classrooms. Good luck to him.

...

Yeah, he's doing it. 

He's not exactly sure what to do, but might as well listen to Kero.

"Windy, please surround the card and hold it."

The card doesn't do anything.

Kero's head pops out of Scott's bag. "That's not how you use a card!"

This is an utter trainwreck. 

"How do I use a card?"

"You have to throw it in front of you and then tap it with the tip of your staff and say its name. If you ask it something it'll do that."

Right. 

He throws the card. He taps the card. 

"Windy, please surround the card and hold it still!"

The card glows and dissolves, taking the form of a ghostly woman, who then proceeds to open the door into the classroom quite violently and create not a little chaos trying to grab the card there.

Except the card slips through the floor before she reaches it.

Meanwhile, Stiles is telling the class all about his favorite video game character and how nice Scott is to play along.

Does anyone here know what 'cosplay' is?

Scott goes to the basement? 

He doesn't actually know how to get to the basement. 

The people are very confused by the sudden very unexplainable gust of wind and annoyed about all the things it pushed onto the floor.

Scott is a very good friend.

Weren't the effects realistic?

Scott was the one behind the wind? Why would he do that. What's he doing. Why isn't he in class. Inquiring minds want to know.

Well, obviously Stiles declines to explain and rambles on about the game.

"Windy, turn into a card please," he whispers. 

He looks for a way to the basement, and finds some access stairs.

And there the card is, skipping around merrily.

And so is, incidentally, Scott's inhaler. Half embedded on the floor.

Out comes his only other card. 

"Song," throw the card, tap it with the staff, "Draw the card to you with song!" 

The song appears and starts singing, which temporarily stops the unknown card, who looks at him in bewilderment.

Can he have two at once? He didn't ask Kero.

"Windy, trap the card while it's distracted," he says, calling it forth with a twirl of his staff.

And Windy does! The card tries to go through the floor but apparently it's too thick, and now it's well and truly trapped.

At least no one got hurt; hopefully he'll be better prepared next time.

...

Is Kero still in his bag? He checks.

Yes, he is. "You need to capture it, or it'll escape! You should say, 'Through, I command you to return to your power confined!'"

Thanks Kero.

"Through, I command you to return to your power confined."

It glows and becomes a card, then floats slowly to his hand.

He breathes a sigh of relief. 

Then he looks for his inhaler. Last he checked it was in the ground?

Yep, pretty thoroughly embedded.

"The Through can let you go through solid surfaces but the more of them there is the harder it is."

And there are Song and Windy, doing absolutely nothing now.

"Are you guys okay?"

They shrug and nod.

"Song, return to your power confined!"

It does.

"You don't need to say that after you've captured a card."

"Did I capture it? How does that work, Song stayed behind when the others got blown away, but I didn't really do anything."

"Well, now that you're the cardcaptor, cards in your possession are yours, but if you write your name on them that becomes more permanent."

"If I write my name on it, am I...saying that I own it?"

"Yes."

"Maybe I'll do that later. Windy, uh..." 

He just sort of wants her to return to card form. 

She does.

Now for the fun part.

"Through, allow me to pull my inhaler out of the floor." 

He hopes he doesn't look too ridiculous, hitting a card with a pink wand.

It's... pretty ridiculous, yep. But it works.

Cool. Card, captured. Inhaler, retrieved. 

He heads upstairs to see how badly people are panicking. 

They're not, really, it's not like gusts of wind in a single classroom are that weird.

A boy with a pink staff running around the school is weird, though, especially since he was supposed to have been having some kind of medical emergency.

Scott mostly doesn't address the copious lies Stiles told to the entire school.

He does find the nurse and explain that the pink staff is a comfort object that helps calm him down if he loses his inhaler, and Stiles was just saving him the embarrassment of admitting it. 

And why did Mr. Stilinski decide to claim responsibility on behalf of Scott for the bizarre wind?

Bizarre winds are cool! He thought it would be funny.

He'll accept detention on Scott's behalf too.

Other than joking around about the wind for who knows what reason, he hasn't actually done anything wrong, so he'll just get a warning and be sent on his way.

Back to class, that is. And Scott should go, too.

Scott does not object to class. He keeps his cards and his Kero in his bag and pays attention.

Stiles attends and pays very little attention.

Kero makes almost no noises!

And no other cards seem to manifest at school.

Things calm down as much as they can, after a display like that. 

And they go home. 

Scott drops the backpack on his bed. 

"Okay, Kero, you can come out now."

Stiles calls his dad and works on retrieving snacks downstairs. 

He comes out. "That was very well done!"

"...Thanks. It was my first try, I'll try to be more careful next time."

"Yes, some of them can be very dangerous."

"Can I do something to prepare myself? Should I meditate more with the cards who are already with me?"

"Meditating with them will make it easier to understand them and know how to use them."

While Stiles rummages around downstairs, Scott pulls out his cards and lays them out on his desk.

The Song, the Windy, the Through. 

He sits in the chair, placing his hands over the cards.

He closes his eyes, and clears his mind of everything except the cards he's met.

It's slow going, much slower than it was at school.

He can wait.

Then eventually he'll be able to start making out the bright shapes that are the cards and Kero, fuzzy at first, but gaining definition as they go.

Meanwhile, Stiles enters the room.

"So I've been thinking about these cards, and how we should probably know more about them."

Scott fails to persist.

"Augh. I was just getting somewhere, Stiles!"

"How about we ask the expert, the guardian of the seal of the cards? Kero, can you tell us about the cards Scott has so far?"

"Tell you what?"

"More about what Windy is like, what they want from me, what Through can do, anything you know would help."

"I don't know what to say. They want a master. Through can make you go through solid objects. Windy is nice."

"Could Through go through this floor? The ceiling? The wall? The bed? Can it just take you through anything you want?"

"It's harder for thicker things, and depends on how much magic he has. If he can't go through he might get stuck."

"Yeah, we're not using that one. What about Windy? How strong can it be, or how gentle? Can it pick things up, open doors without breaking them?"

"She's not good at being gentle, Scott will need to be stronger for that. She is one of the six strongest cards, and lots of other cards are under her. The Song is under her."

"Song only sings, right? She can't do anything with wind like Windy, even though you said she's under her?"

"What do you mean, under her, anyway? If Clow was such a master why didn't he leave instructions?"

"I don't know what Clow wanted, but yes, the Song can only sing. She can sing more beautifully than anything non-magical, though."

"What other cards are under Windy?"

"The Voice, The Fly, The Float, The Dash, The Jump, The Move, and The Storm."

"Does having Windy mean they'll be easier to catch?"

"Yes. And to control."

"What do they do? The Jump, the Fly, the Float..."

"The Jump jumps really high, the Fly flies, the Float floats."

"Could I use Float to make myself float or other things? Could I make Stiles float?"

"You can make anything float with it."

"Can you just tell us what the most dangerous cards are?"

"They're all dangerous, it only depends on how long you take to catch them for them to build power."

"Are some more aggressive or less friendly than the others? Are some useful for finding the others?"

"Yeah."

"Are any of them more useful than you? Maybe Clow Reed should have spent his time on making a better Guardian."

"Stiles, can you get me some water?"

"Sure. Did you want anything, Kirby?"

He glares at Stiles and folds his arms.

He goes downstairs.

"I'll tell him to apologize later. I'm sorry about him."

Kero shrugs. "I could tell you about all cards...?"

"That would be nice."

So he starts by listing all fifty-two of them.

"Okay. Some of those seem more obvious than others. What does Change do? The Loop, the Return, the Twin?"

"The Change can change or exchange many things. It can turn things into other things, or switch people's minds. The Loop creates an area of distorted space from which you can't escape until you capture it. The Return lets you travel to the past to watch it. The Twin creates an identical copy of anything it touches."

"How are the Time and the Return different? Can Time not take you to the past? Does it take you into the future? And what about the Mirror?"

"Time can make time loop, but it can't send you into the past. It can make it stop or go faster or slower. The Mirror becomes a copy of someone, or it can reflect things back at their sources."

"Both Twin and Mirror could copy someone, then? Can other cards do that?"

"Twin creates a copy, Mirror becomes one. I don't think any other cards can do that."

"Okay. Uh, can you name them again while I write them down?"

He does.

Stiles returns with water.

"Did the bear do something useful while I was gone?"

He hands him the list.

"Okay. Watery, Windy, Earthy, Wood...you said there were six cards in charge of the others, right? What are they?"

"The four elements—Watery, Windy, Earthy, Firey—and the two aspects—Light and Dark."

"Can Windy help us find the other elements? If I meditate with her, will that make it easier?"

"Not really, the cards can't be found until they're active."

"Okay. Stiles, you can take that with you. We'll think about it tomorrow."